Next November’s race for mayor of Seattle could end up being a rematch. Former Mayor Mike McGinn, who was defeated in 2013 by current Mayor Ed Murray, is running to get his old job back. Standing in his front yard in the Greenwood neighborhood, on a block with modest frame houses, former Mayor McGinn made the announcement that he's seeking office again. He told reporters he's watched the past three years as the city has changed. He said he wants to be the voice for the middle class in Seattle who are struggling to hold on as the city grows and becomes wealthier.
“Right now, every time the rent goes up or a house goes on the market at an unaffordable price, it doesn’t just squeeze out who’s here now, it actually squeezes out our dream of what the city can be,” McGinn said.
McGinn gives credit to city leaders, including Mayor Ed Murray, who he says have come up with plans for more affordable housing, but he says you need to get neighborhoods to buy in, something he said he learned the hard way during his previous term as mayor.
McGinn says he favors enacting a citywide income tax, even though he knows it would be challenged in court, instead of raising property and sales taxes, which he says hurts poor and middle-income residents disproportionately.
McGinn insists he was considering a run before allegations of sexual abuse surfaced against current Mayor Ed Murray. Murray has denied the allegations.
The filing deadline for the November election is May 19. So far, McGinn, Mayor Murray and activist Nikkita Oliver have announced their intentions to run for mayor of Seattle.
